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INSTRUCTION No

INSTRUCTION No. 644-TTg ISSUED ON THE 5th OF NOVEMBER 1994 ON THE MANAGEMENT OF THE PRODUCTION AND TRADING AND THE QUALITY OF BACTERIAL FERTILIZERS

With a view to a "clean agriculture" and in order to preserve the fertility of the cultivated land, there must be a rational use of different kinds of fertilizer and chemical pesticide. On the strength of the abundance in peat and phosphoric resources of our country, we should encourage the use of these raw materials as the basis and additives in the development of bacterial fertilizers and biological products to gradually replace chemical fertilizers in agriculture in accordance with the common trend of the world. At present, the production of bacterial fertilizers remains on a small scale and scattered, and its technology is not advanced, thus failing to meet the increasing demand of agricultural production. At the same time, there still is a loose control of the trading of bacterial fertilizers in the country and from outside. That is why, besides a number of bacterial fertilizers which meet the qualitative norms and the needs of agricultural production in different regions, there remain a number of low quality bacterial fertilizers, even fakes, which have not only damaged the interests of the farmers but have also had a negative impact on the fertility of the cultivated land and the ecological environment.

To bring into line the production and trading including the importation of different kinds of bacterial fertilizers and biological products in conformity with:

- Ordinance on Quality of Goods issued on the 27th of December 1990;

- Ordinance on the Transfer of Foreign Technologies to Vietnam issued on the 5th of December 1988;

- Decree No. 49/HDBT issued on the 19th of October 1991 providing details for the implementation of the Ordinance on the Quality of Goods; and

- Decree No. 49/HDBT issued on the 4th of March 1991 providing details for the implementation of Ordinance on the transfer of Foreign Technologies to Vietnam;

The Prime Minister instructs the ministries, services and localities to effect immediately the following:

1. The Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry and the Vietnam Union of Scientific and Technical Associations, and basing itself on the international norms and the concrete conditions of Vietnam, shall sponsor the elaboration of the norms for bacterial fertilizers and biological products made in the country or imported from abroad. The State management agencies shall base themselves on these norms to inspect and supervise and issue import licenses for the importation, production and trading of the various kinds of bacterial fertilizers and biological products. The Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment should complete this work within December 1994.

2. The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry (food and animal epidemiological control agencies), the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (the General Department for Quality Norms and Measures), the Ministry of Trade and the General Customs Office (the customs offices at the border gates) shall have to coordinate their work in closely inspecting and supervising the importation of the various kinds of bacterial fertilizer and biological products in accordance with State standards set by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment.

Allowed for use in Vietnam are the imported bacterial fertilizers and biological products only after they have been declared safe to man and the environment by the inspecting agencies.

3. The Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment and the concerned services must effect regular supervision of the quality of the bacterial fertilizers and biological products of the production establishments in order to supply to the farmers those bacterial fertilizers and biological products which meet the set norms. Those organizations and individuals, who produce and trade in bacterial fertilizers and biological products and variance with the regulations of the State concerning the quality norms, shall be severely penalized.

4. The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry, in collaboration with the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, the Union of Scientific and Technical Associations guide the production establishments to conduct immediate inspection and evaluation of the bacterial fertilizers now being produced and sold in Vietnam in the following aspects:

- Composition of the bacterial fertilizers and biological products;

- Effect of these fertilizers on the productivity and quality of the plants and the fertility of the cultivated land;

- Impact of these fertilizers on man, water sources and the ecological environment.

The expenditures for this inspection and evaluation shall be partly borne by the State and the annual regular budget allocations to different branches and the rest shall be borne by the production establishments as prescribed by the Ministry of Finance.

5. The Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry, the Ministry of Heavy Industry, the Union of Scientific and Technical Associations, work out a regulation on the evaluation of the technological level in the production of bacterial fertilizers and biological products in order to elaborate an appropriate in vestment policy and step by step introduce advanced technologies into the production of bacterial fertilizers and biological products in service of agricultural production. Basing itself on this Regulation, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment shall register the production technology and the trade marks of the establishments producing bacterial fertilizers and biological products, considering it one of the bases for the examination approval and granting of production and business licenses as well as for registering the quality of products of the production establishments.

6. The Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance shall issue the regulation on the expertise and approval of the contracts on technology transfer concerning the products made for the first time in Vietnam. On this basis the State management agencies in the localities shall closely supervise the contracts on technology transfer in the production of bacterial fertilizers and biological products in their localities in order to ensure the prescribed quality and low production cost of bacterial fertilizers.

For the Prime Minister

Deputy Prime Minister

PHAN VAN KHAI